Department of Medical Psychology and Neuropsychology, University of Tilburg, Tilburg, The Netherlands; Department of Neurosurgery, St. Elisabeth Hospital, Tilburg, The Netherlands; Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Rudolf Magnus Institute of Neuroscience, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Magn Reson Med. 2013 Dec;70(6):1544-56. doi: 10.1002/mrm.24602. Epub 2013 Jan 28.
The single diffusion tensor model is inadequate for the reconstruction of fiber pathways in brain regions with multiple fiber orientations. To overcome this limitation, constrained spherical deconvolution has been proposed. A high reliability of constrained spherical deconvolution is, however, a pre-requisite for its use in clinical applications. Reliability of reconstructed fiber pathways can be assessed in terms of architectural (addressing their spatial configuration) and microstructural (addressing diffusion-derived measures along the fibers) reproducibility. We assess the reliability for two clinically relevant fiber pathways: the corticospinal tract and arcuate fasciculus. The fiber pathways were reconstructed using constrained spherical deconvolution in 11 healthy subjects who were scanned on three occasions. Coefficients of variations of diffusion-derived measures were used to assess the microstructural reproducibility. Image correlation and fiber overlap were used to assess the architectural reproducibility. The mean correlation between sessions was 72% for both the corticospinal tract and arcuate fasciculus. The mean overlap between sessions was 63% for the corticospinal tract and 58% for the arcuate fasciculus. Coefficients of variations of diffusion-derived measures showed very low variation (all measures <3.1%). These results are comparable with reliability results based on the diffusion tensor model, which is commonly used in clinical settings. The reliability results found here are, therefore, promising to further investigate the use of constrained spherical deconvolution in clinical practice.
单扩散张量模型不足以重建具有多个纤维方向的脑区的纤维通路。为了克服这一限制，已经提出了约束球分解。然而，约束球分解的高可靠性是其在临床应用中的先决条件。纤维通路的重建可靠性可以从结构（解决其空间配置）和微观结构（解决沿纤维的扩散衍生测量）的可重复性两个方面来评估。我们评估了两种临床相关纤维通路的可靠性：皮质脊髓束和弓状束。使用约束球分解在 11 名健康受试者中重建了纤维通路，这些受试者在三次扫描中进行了扫描。扩散衍生测量的变异系数用于评估微观结构的可重复性。图像相关和纤维重叠用于评估结构的可重复性。皮质脊髓束和弓状束的两次扫描之间的平均相关性分别为 72%和 72%。皮质脊髓束的两次扫描之间的平均重叠为 63%，而弓状束的两次扫描之间的平均重叠为 58%。扩散衍生测量的变异系数显示出非常低的变化（所有测量值均<3.1%）。这些结果与基于扩散张量模型的可靠性结果相当，后者常用于临床环境。因此，这里的可靠性结果有望进一步研究约束球分解在临床实践中的应用。
